Football: Airtel Cup – Semifinals first leg - St Michel maul Anse Reunion, St Louis edge La Passe |19 September 2016

St Michel thrashed Anse Reunion 5-0 at the Amitié stadium on Saturday in the first of the two Airtel Cup semifinals and at Stad Linite, St Louis edged defending champions La Passe 2-0 in rather controversial manner.

St Michel make light work of Anse Reunion

St Michel made light work of Anse Reunion in a 5-0 mauling in a match that never lived up to expectation.

Anse Reunion, who were without their suspended Malagasy defender Eddy, had hoped to at least win their ‘home’ tie which was played on Praslin and coach Ted Esther was confident his players would rise to the occasion.

St Michel though had other ideas as Malagasy Jocelyn opened the scoring in the 25th minute for a 1-0 lead and just past the half hour mark, Anse Reunion’s Archille Ernesta put one past his own goalkeeper Ian Ah-Kong to make it 2-0 at half-time.

St Michel piled on the pressure after the interval and Neil Confiance scored in the 51st minute for a 3-0 lead and seven minutes later, Nelson Laurence got on the scoresheet to make it 4-0 and Malagasy Hassan Aly sealed the emphatic victory in the 72nd minute from the penalty spot for a 5-0 triumph which almost guarantees the players of coach Roddy Victor a place in the final this week bar a miracle in the return match at Stad Linite on Wednesday.

St Louis edge La Passe

St Louis gave themselves a good chance to make it to the final with a 2-0 win over defending Airtel Cup winners La Passe at Stad Linite on Saturday afternoon.

St Louis started slowly though against a La Passe side keen not to concede as the Mahé team tried to unlock their defence early on.

Coached by Nigel Freminot, St Louis had their first real chance in the 20th minute from a surging run by Nigerian Kazeem Adeyeri before he centered to Elijah Tamboo but La Passe’s Ugandan defender Abbey Kavuma cleared the danger in the nick of time.

La Passe responded with a rare attack in the 22nd minute as Collin Esther cut inside on the right to shoot at St Louis’ Malagasy goalkeeper Michel who saved easily.

St Louis though kept probing and in the 28th minute, Jean-Paul Aglae ventured forward to pick out Tamboo with a decent cross and his header brought a good save out of goalkeeper Dave Mussard.

In the 34th minute, Henny Dufresne put in a brilliant cross which sailed over La Passe defender Ramely Pascal and onto Malagasy Tahiry but his control let him down with the goal at his mercy.

A minute later, at the other end, La Passe’s Malagasy striker Ludovigue was gifted a golden opportunity after a mistake in the St Louis defence and with only goalkeeper Michel to beat, Ludovigue fired wide much to the disappointment of his teammates.

St Louis had another gilt edge chance in the 39th minute to break the deadlock from Tahiry’s corner which Adeyeri miscued and it fell to Tamboo but he blazed wide from close range for a stalemate at the break.

St Louis though made a statement of purpose six minutes after resumption of play as Adeyeri scored with a sweetly struck 30-metre free kick which found refuge in the bottom corner for a 1-0 lead much to the joy of their fans.

The goal settled St Louis’ nerves as they went on to control proceeding though La Passe also raised their game.

On the hour mark, substitute Mervin Mathiot set up Adeyeri who failed to hit the target from the edge of the penalty area.

St Louis were awarded a controversial penalty in the 61st minute from Mathiot’s corner which was cleared to Dufresne whose shot was latched onto by Carlos Simeon and he appeared to have been impeded by goalkeeper Mussard though the contact was minimal and it was assistant referee Gilbert Lusta who flagged for this infringement as referee Kerens Yocette had allowed play to go on, but then blew his whistle and pointed to the penalty spot much to the disbelief and anger of the La Passe camp.

This decision created a lot of commotion on the pitch before calm was restored and Tahiry stepped up to send goalkeeper Mussard the wrong way for a 2-0 lead.

This incident marred this match and four minutes later, substitute goalkeeper Vincent Euphrasie was shown a straight red card from the bench for making his grievances known to the officials.

La Passe then had to throw everything in attack to reduce the deficit and their best chance fell to substitute Achille Henriette who pounced on a loose ball but he shot directly into the gloves of goalkeeper Michel as St Louis secured the win and will hope they can finish off the job on Wednesday though coach Freminot feels there is still a lot of work ahead.

“We played well though we started slowly but once we got into our rhythm, we were in control and we have a good result but nothing is guaranteed as we need to remain focussed for the return leg if we want to reach the final,” St Louis coach Freminot told Sports NATION.

As for the La Passe coach Bruno Saindini, he was quite upset with the officials though he remains optimistic for the return match.

“We performed satisfactorily and had a great chance to steal the lead in the first half but overall I’m very disappointed with the officials but we still have hope for the second leg and we will try our best to reverse this score,” a disappointed coach Saindini said as he plans to rally his troops for the return match on Praslin on Wednesday.

R. J-L

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Published: 19-09-2016